studentforever wrote:Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:45 am Just to show that even short term trends are worrying
https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/bl ... emperature
Not sure what we can do, cut down on car use, reduce waste etc but it's a drop in the ocean when one private jet trip across the Atlantic will undo more than a year's saving. :'(
studentforever wrote:Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:39 pm I will confess to a flight to Austria this summer. The problem is this, I live in Scotland so going by other transport would be something like bus to train or coach station. Transfer across London to Eurostar or train to Dover followed by ferry, at best transfer between coaches. Cross channel and then cross continent to destination. Probably the biggest part of two days, transfer of luggage between legs and at hotel (I don't fancy sitting up on either coach or train overnight and not sure about sleeper availablity on train). Well, since many of the party are over 70 I'm afraid we opted to fly.
I'm afraid that one of the problems if you don't live around London is the time taken to cross the channel and the lack of help to transport luggage. The only other option is long distance coach and even that can involve changing coaches since the usual method is to use feeder coaches to a central coach park somewhere then a re-assignment of seats on final destination coaches. I try to limit my flyiing to 1 economy class per year and I haven't flown long haul for some years (economy class again) and in many years I didn't fly at all. It is the usual problem of balancing an 'experience' against climate. Like most Brits I have opted for a middle way which balances my possible regret on 'missing out' against my conscience on CO2.
It's the same visiting friends and family. Station to station is great. The problem is getting from station to final destination. Not helped by the fact that my local bus company, who used to run a bus to the coach station, has now decided to terminate the route a good 10 min walk away (without luggage). One train station has a good bus link from home, the other one doesn't, so going down to England on the West Coast is OK, East Coast and North of Scotland involves the less accessible station or changing trains. For me, using railcard, train can be cheaper than car (booked ahead and using inflexible tickets) but if more than 1 passenger or a last minute journey then the costs are prohibitive and the journey can be quite stressful if travelling with luggage. Taxi from station to home ?25 each way! Climate protection can be expensive.
If the government are serious about limiting CO2 from travel then the cost of public transport must be competitive for the single traveller and not too outrageous for a family and the legs of the journey must link up without excessive distances between legs or waits for the next transport. Ah well, we can all dream of Utopia
Michael wrote:Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:22 pm Well said. Some people here are pushing for free public transit. The City of Victoria started, this year, allowing free transit for Victoria children with school IDs. The trouble is that there are 13 municipalities which make up the Capital Regional District, so the neighbouring communities didn't sign on, so children on one side of a street would get free transit, whereas children on the other don't. :'(
Hanibal94 wrote:Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:53 pm I must confess as well - as my grandparents and other relatives live across the Atlantic, I have no choice but to fly when I want to visit them in the summer.
And that's two flights each way, because we have to go to Frankfurt Airport but the rules work like this:
- If you miss a flight because your train is late, it's your fault, and the airline doesn't have to do a thing to help you.
- If you miss a connecting flight because your first flight was late, it's the airline's fault, and they have to help you.
Also, Deutsche Bahn is not very reliable in general - there's a joke that if you take their mobile app logo and turn it upside down, you get the customer's face!
At least I don't need a car. That's something.